


Bitter Triumphant

by firewolfsg



Series: Ravens Saga [2]
Category: Kagaku Ninja Tai Gatchaman | Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Hermaphrodites, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-31
Updated: 2013-01-31
Packaged: 2017-11-27 16:32:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/664106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firewolfsg/pseuds/firewolfsg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How different are the dynamics of the Gallactor Empire, now that Ken and Joe are Gallactor raised siblings?</p><p>Written January 1998</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pain

**Author's Note:**

> Key: "..." Normal Speech; {...} Thoughts; [ ... ] Written Text

The black bird styled figure walked into the room to stand before the dressing table. He turned to gaze at the full length mirror beside it, lost for a moment in his own fierce reflection.

With a white pyrotechnic flare, the black combat gear melted away to leave him in plain white attire. A cool night breeze entered through the open window and swept through the open door, stirring his white locks gently against his pale skin.

#Brother?#

The reflection of yet another black bird styled figure appeared in the mirror beside him. A blue glow surrounded the new figure as he entered the room. With his combat gear deactivated, the youth was revealed to be dressed in blue garb which matched that of the pale youth.

"Joji."

The darker lad slid one hand on the pale youth's shoulder with the other around his waist, as he embraced his pale sibling from behind and whispered into his ear. "I don't like it when you shut me out of your mind, Ken."

"A block you can easily get around at any time, my telepathic sibling." Ken reached down to grip the tanned hands in his own.

"I respect privacy, Ken. You know, I won't intrude if you don't want me to. Please, talk to me. This silence is not good for you." Joji turned his pale brother around to face him.

"Yes, Aniki."

"Don't you 'yes Aniki' me meekly, younger sibling." He lifted his chin so that they now looked at each other eye to eye, "Open to me. Let me share your pain."

Ken twisted out of his grip, and flung himself on the bed. "You've done too much of that lately, Joji."

"Ken, you may be my commander and leader, but in these apartments, I am your older sibling." Joji plopped himself down beside him on the bed. "Our memories of our past may be sketchy, but I remember swearing to protect you when we were children. You are *my* responsibility."

His voice softened as he continued, "You never cried, Ken. And it's hurting you. Talk to me."

They locked eyes again for a moment. The unspoken challenge was there. But before more could be said, a great black wolf came bounding into the room to land on top of the pair on the bed.

"Aaiikkk!"

"Arragh!"

"OOF! Get off yer big galoot." Ken pushed at the wolf nuzzling him.

"Ow! Jaeger, you're not a pup anymore. Yer not even a dog." Joji flailed helplessly as the wolf licked him playfully with it's long wet tongue.

"We've ruined him, Joji. What kind of a wolf is this suppose to be?" Ken shrieked in laughter as the wolf's cold nose poked him at the side of his neck.

"Jaeger!"

"Arragh!"

~Whumph!~

The three of them slipped off the bed to land in a tangled heap of arms, legs and bedclothes.

"Charles, get in here! I know you're behind this."

A lithe Siamese cat made it's stately entrance to leap on to the vacant bed and stare *down* at them.

"You needed the relief."

"You're incorrigible, Charles." Ken pulled the bed sheet off his head to glare at the little cat.

"I have to be, or I could not have raise the two of you."

Jaeger, the black wolf sat wagging its tail and looking at the brothers with such a bright, playful expression that neither could stay angry with him.

Joji mussed the wolf's furry head with one hand, as he pulled his brother to his feet with the other. He did not let go of this brother's arm though.

"Ken, we're all here for you. You know that. We're your family. Don't shut us out of your life."

The pale youth didn't pull his arm away, as he looked down. Joji gently guided him over to sit on the edge of the bed.

#It would have been so much simpler if he had rejected me, or cursed me, or - or #

Joji's hands held his hands in comfort.

He was silent for a long while, #I - I could have stopped him, Aniki. Stopped the rocket and saved him.#

#Only to earn his enmity until such time as the oceans boiled away. You had to let him suicide, or doom us all.#

#I was careless, he sucker punched me. I could have stopped him.#

#No you couldn't. There is no fault or blame in this. The Kagaku Ninjatai killed our designated pilot.#

#Poor Dirk, he wanted so much to go out with a bang.# Ken sighed, #At least he died honorably in battle instead of wasting away in the hospital. I could have -#

#No! Every time you use your telekinesis, it costs you another piece of your life.# Joji got angry with him, #You never think of your own danger when you use your powers. You could have burned yourself out with Plan B and you know that!#

#I have the power - #

#At what cost? You never exerted that much force before, and what if you lost control. We wouldn't be morning Kentaro Washio's death now. It would be *your* funeral, and possibly the world's. The safest course was for someone to bring the rocket up by hand, Ken. I wouldn't have let you.#

#But I could have survived even that.#

#I wouldn't have let you.# Joji repeated firmly,

#Ken, even if you did use Plan B to send off the rocket - lets just say you succeeded and survived ... That your father still lived ... What would you have done?#

Joji glared at the cat, #Charles, shush.#

#Would you have left us?# the Siamese ignored him.

Ken looked up at him in shock and surprise. #No, never. I have responsibilities to the Empire, I would never betray you,# He did not hesitate in this statement.

#And Kentaro would never have left the ISO.# Charles reminded him, #Not when it was the Gallactor Empire who took away his wife and son.#

#He could have had his son back.#

#Do you really think so?# Charles asked.

The pause was painful. #Think about it Ken.# Charles continued, #He placed his wife and son in danger in service of the ISO. Do you really think he would have left the ISO, for a son who now served Gallactor?#

#No.#

#Ken, did you love your father?# Charles asked solemnly, he ignored the smothering anger in Joji's eyes. #Did you feel love for Kentaro Washio?#

It was a long moment before Ken replied, #No. I did not know him. I respected Red Impulse, but I cannot say I ever loved him. Perhaps I did as a child, but now ...#

He closed his mind to them again. Joji shifted his grip to hug his brother to him. He turned his angry eyes on the cat which sat calmly cleaning it's left hind leg.

#Charles, you didn't have to say that.# Joji sent to the cat in private communication.

#Joji, your brother has to see the truth, no matter how much it hurt.# Charles told him solemnly, #I'm sorry for forcing this on, Ken. But he has to realize that there was no going back. No "happily ever after" in their father and son reunion. There could never have been one. As long as they were on either side of the fence, they would have stayed the bitterest of enemies.#

Joji could feel his ragged breathing and his shoulders shook with each breath, but there were no tears. He could feel no wetness on his shoulder.

"I have shed enough tears for my father. I will shed no more." Ken had told him when Joji found him at the launch bay.

Jaeger whined as he looked at them and placed his paw on Ken's lap.

Ken smiled as he pushed himself off his brother's shoulder, and patted the black wolf on the head.

"It - probably is the best that he died today." Ken admitted at last, "You're right, I - I don't know if I could have killed Red Impulse when next we clashed."

Joji squeezed his hand gently.

Charles walked over to put his paw on Ken's lap, "Your breathing is uneven again little one. When's your next session with Sosai X?"

"You worry too much." Ken looked down at the cat in annoyance.

"When?" Charles persisted.

"Three days." Ken got off the bed and walked over to the wardrobe to choose something else to wear.

"Maybe you should move it up."

"Don't coddle me. I'll be fine."

Charles shot him a 'look' before he leaped off the bed an walked towards the pale youth, "I also came to warn you boys. Katse's on the warpath."

"I'm just sooo scared."

"Be serious little one." Charles leaped onto Ken's shoulders, "Katse - "

"- is an insecure and insufferable little snort, with grandiose plans of world domination and little sense of how to go about it." Ken pushed the Siamese off as he reached into the closet to take out a night shirt.

"Ken, you frightened him." Joji tried to caution him to hold his tongue.

"I backed him up. In his arrogance he lost control of the command center which launched the first rocket. If I had not made the backup remote control, we wouldn't have clinched our victory that day." Ken rounded on them as he threw his choice of clothes on the bed.

"Damn me for thinking ahead. I should have checked if the restoring rocket's automatic guidance systems were completed. If I had checked, I would not have had to - choose a designated sacrifice, - my father might have lived still-"

"Stop it!" Joji launched across the room to slapped him, "Stop thinking like that. What's done is done. You couldn't have prevented it. Gods Ken, you're so uptight - "

"You mean anal."

"He didn't say that." Charles hissed at him, "Katse can be malicious when he's scared, Ken. Be careful."

"For a person with an IQ of 280, our Avatar can still be remarkably dim. If he feels his leadership is threatened, it is unfounded. *I* have no wish to rule the world." Ken touched his stinging cheek gingerly.

"No one knows any better, what I did to save his face. To the rest of the Empire and the ISO, Katse sama was his usual brilliant self. The whole incident is a stroke of genius in the annuals of Berg Katse. A display of how far he will go to rule the world. The UN have had their warning."

"It would have been better for Dr. Nambu to reveal to the world that it was a bluff. Instead, to protect the Kagaku Ninjatai, he controlled the news and made them out to be heroes. But the Kagaku Ninjatai know better. They are once more disgraced for impulsiveness, and they know Red Impulse's sacrifice as an effort to correct their mistake."

"Our own propaganda machine is refuting the UN statement, so even if we aren't believed, the matter raises enough doubts in the UN because it is the truth. The ISO loses credibility and we might even see member countries withdraw from the UN to join the Alliance."

"It is *our* victory. The UN fears us more and the morale of the Kagaku Ninjatai has been shaken. And to those that know better, the ISO have lied to them. They will never be trusted again."

"But not all leaders are fools, Ken. And Katse knows the truth. He knows that it was you who engineered this whole drama. As does Sosai X." Charles reminded them.

"I followed Katse's plans to the logical conclusion." Ken pointed out.

"You directed it towards *your* logical conclusion." Charles corrected him, "To the masses, Katse is a genius. To the powers that count, *you* are the mastermind."

"Katse's is the vision - "

"But vision without performance is valueless. Katse rightly fears you, little Eagle."

"He has no need to."

"That doesn't matter." Joji took him into his arms, "A leader is nothing without able lieutenants. What is Katse without us? What if Sosai X ever decides to replace him?"

"Is this the value of my loyalty? To be distrusted and despised because I've made our leader look good in spite of himself? What of the overall picture? What of the advancement of the Alliance? This is not a war of vanity and conceit. I do what I must to advance the cause. All else is shadow play."

Ken turned away from them and hugged himself, his lithe frame shaking from his outburst, "Why ... can't we just focus on our goals - on Katse's visions."

"Because that is not how the real world operates, little one." Charles reminded him.

"I'm sick of it. I'm sick of it all. I - I don't want to continue like this. I want the madness to end."

Joji walked up to him and lifted his chin so that he would look at him in the eyes, "I know little one." He said gently as he stroked his cheek, "I - Katse's coming in."

They separated and moments later, they heard the sound of footsteps approaching.

The two youths kneeled as Katse entered the room.

"Hail Avatar, scion of our living god."

"Rise my Ravens. We are unobserved, formality can be dispensed with." The expression of the Gallactor leader's face was unreadable, "My dear, Ace Goodheart."

#I hate that name.# Ken threw the thought to his brother as they came to their feet.

#He only uses it to annoy you.#

"We have much to do, the inner council of the Alliance have asked Gallactor for an accounting." Katse told them, "and I believe we are due for another round of visits to check on our holdings -"

"Very good sire-"

"- starting with the Count's forces. I believe he is building us a new base around the Pacific knolls. We need to assess his proposed troop strength and hardware inventory. We leave in two days."

Not by a flicker did Ken's expression change at this announcement.

"Katse sama, this is - " Joji began to protest.

"We can't be expected to make further plans until we know our own strength." Katse interrupted him, "After the division of the Count's forces during the unsuccessful coup ..."

Berg Katse paused deliberately as he looked at the brothers meaningfully.

"... we need to know what the situation is and what is left."

"By your command." Ken's words were cool.

#Sometimes, Katse is vindicated to call my sibling his Ice Queen.# Joji threw a thought to Charles.

#It is well earned, little one.# Charles thought back.

Joji knows that Katse is smirking as he leaves their quarters. He looked towards Ken, but Ken's expression was unreadable and his mind closed to him again.

They had managed to avoid Egobossler for several months now. Now, Katse was forcing them to be in each other's presence.

#I felt his heart shatter when they last met, Charles.# Joji thought to the little cat, #I swore that I would never let that bastard hurt him again.#

#He is the least of your troubles Joji. Trust in your brother.# Charles looked up at him.

#His heart I trust. But what of Kate?#


	2. Night

Joji gazed enviously at the white maned youth who slept peacefully beside him.

{I don't know how you can sleep without any worries. Hell I'm more tensed then you are about the visit.} Joji mumbled as he reached out to stroke the white hair which cascaded down the pillow beside him.

But his brother neither awakened, nor stirred at his words.

"Ken ..." Tears came unbidden to Joji's eyes as he studied the sleeping form.

{Before, you'd have awoken to my gaze. You'd have laughed to see me observing you now. And what would you be saying then?}

'You've switched places with me again, Joji. Stop your worrying, I angst enough for the both of us.' Joji mimicked the voice of the sleeping youth.

{Yes, that would be so like you to say that to me ... if you woke up now ... I - I miss that.}

Joji stared at the ceiling, his mind was drifting in half waking dreams of the future.

{What will the day's events do to you my brother? In two days, we'll be at Egobossler's castle. To be treated with all the pomp and ceremony deserving of our rank. Ah, our avatar can be so cruel when it so suits his mood.}

{He is not yet over our last encounter with the Count, Ken. You risked everything by defying the Avatar to save that bastard. Even after he had insulted you in our previous meeting.}

"If you hadn't stopped me then I would have gutted him for his insult."

Joji slapped his hand over his mouth, he didn't mean to speak that out aloud. But still the youth didn't stir.

{Damn it Ken, don't leave me alone.} Joji couldn't stop the tears from welling up in his eyes, {You've been with me for as long as I can remember, please don't die on me.}

Joji got up. It was no use, he wouldn't be able to sleep that night. The black wolf looked up and yawned as he walked by, it's ivory fangs glinted in the moonlight.

"Go back to sleep, Jaeger." Joji murmured as he scratched the wolf behind the ear.

"You should be asleep as well little one."

Joji looked at the little Siamese cat which sat at Ken's feet.

"I can't sleep Charles. Why aren't you asleep?"

The little cat stretched as it sighed, "I was until you started talking and moving about in bed."

Joji coughed in laughter as he pulled open the walk-in-closet. As he shifted through the clothes, Joji found his mind drifting over his memories. The jumbled images of the past clashed and rolled in his mind.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"As if you can't guess?"

"Joji, I can talk, I have intelligence and I have a life span which will easily match yours, *that* is all Dr. Rafael gave me. I, unlike you, am not a mind reader. Lets move this to mind speech so we don't wake your brother."

#Yes nanny. But you can always second guess us.#

#I raised you. You're thinking of Ken, aren't you?# The Siamese cat asked as it leaped down to his feet and started to brush against him. #Why he didn't wake up, when we were talking?#

#Yes.#

#He may not be as strong as he was before, Joji, but you can't spend all your time worrying about him.# Charles started, then the cat stared at him for a while, #No, I'm coming at this all wrong aren't I? You're not worried about Ken as much as you're afraid of being alone.#

#You make it sound selfish.#

#It isn't Joji. After what happened in your past, I understand all too well your fear of being left alone.#

#Charles, what is our past, why won't you tell us?# Joji knelt on the floor in front of the cat, #I don't know what of our past is true anymore. I - I can't do this alone. You and Jaeger are our only connection to our past when we were Dr. Rafael's wards. We can't remember much more before that. We can't even remember the names he called us.#

#And I won't remind you. You must learn these truths yourself.# Charles told him solemnly, #Your memories have been altered and changed to a state where a premature revelation might imbalance you.# The cat touched his paw on the back Joji's left hand meaningfully. #You know that.#

Joji's fingers caressed the tattoo of a blue rose which rested there. It glowed slightly.

#I don't have to like it.# Joji murmured.

#But it is necessary.# Charles reminded him, #Sosai X succeeded very well with you, I give him that. If not, you would probably have gone mad years ago to know that he changed you into androgynous creatures.#

#His freaks of nature.# Joji thought bitterly. The rose gleamed, basking the cat in an electric blue glow. Joji's figure started to changed ever so subtly, his lips becoming rounder and fuller.

#He gave you enough time to accept the changes, it became as natural to you as breathing.# Charles reminded her, #It has it's own beauty and balance. But you've already long accepted it, why do you question it now, Jo?#

#I know we at first accepted it like it was no big deal, Charles.# A woman looked at the cat now, #But that was before. When we realized later that this ability was not humanly possible.#

#Our caretakers would have us believe that we were touched by God to be his servants. But it's all a lie. We were originally male until Sosai X changed us, that much we can remember. We remembered the terror and the pain when he reshaped us to his will.#

#And it was necessary, Jo.# Charles pointed out, #Remember, Katse existed before you two came along. Sosai X spent years paving the way for his rule, his religious texts had hermaphrodites marked as the messiah. The sacred appearance of God being both male and female, a race of androgynes.#

#I know, when Katse escaped him, Sosai-sama had to come up with replacements fast, and that's where we came in.# Jo looked at him bitterly, #The Gallactors would have us believe, that we were marked so that others would know we were to be trained as His high priests and rulers. No separation of church and state in this society.#

#None of us were born to this position, as they would have us believe. Before those files were erased, we found out that Katse was himself formed by the merging of fraternal twins. This was all Sosai X's interference in the natural order. He shaped us to his will to serve him. Prophecy be damned, he made us what we are to be his puppets on earth. Whatever he is, Sosai X was not a god. Bitter irony then that his high priests knew this for a fact.#

#Very good Jo, I would have been disappointed in you and your sibling, if you hadn't figured this out by now.#

#Don't be snide, Charles.# Jo started to scratch the cat under it's chin, #So what do we do with this knowledge.#

#You will know when the time comes.# Charles purred as Jo continued to scratch him.

#Now you're being cryptic. I wish-#

#Sorry dear, you can't read my mind. Dr. Rafael made sure of the blocks.#

Jo leaned back against the bed for a moment. #I sometimes wonder if Katse ever truly recovered from his own discovery, that he could take either male or female form.#

#He grew up alone in this discovery, unlike you. He must resent your ability to shape shift into either form at will when you are within range of each other. Whereas he is forced to endure his own unpredictable cycles of change.#


	3. Buds of Disaster

#KATSE!#

"Ow - I'm, coming Sosai, I'm coming, you don't have to shout." Berg Katse grumbled as he rushed into the command chambers holding his temples painfully.

#WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING WITH OUR CHARGES?#

"Me? The usual? We're taking a tour or our armies to check on troop strength, yada yada yada-"

#DON'T BE FLIPPANT. I CAN SENSE DISCONTENT IN OUR PRODIGIES.#

"Oh?"

#KATSE.# Sosai X glowed warningly.

"We're visiting the Count tomorrow morning."

#YOU ARE BEING CRUEL TO THE EAGLE.#

"Its time she gave up on him. What, it's been four months?"

#DO NOT PUSH THEM UNNECESSARILY.#

"It is an object lesson, Sosai. If they didn't want to face him again they shouldn't have freed him in the first place." Katse pouted, "We could have had the real Count Cassary Egobossler. We were to *control* the true Count Cassary Egobossler. That bastard was too strong for us."

#I AM FAR FROM BLIND, KATSE. YOU WERE NOT AFRAID OF THE COUNT'S STRENGTH.#

"But you ignore his ambition and thus his danger to the Empire." Katse growled, "Let me read you the facts again, Sosai. The said bastard is the Count Helm Egobossler, of late known as Cassary until he claimed his real name, an ally in the Gallactor Empire. If it weren't for the fact that I am your Avatar, and the Ravens' my undisputed sub-commanders, the Count would probably have been the leader of the empire."

"For this fact alone, did we all suspect him to be actively courting my Lady Eagle to gain control of the empire should the chance arise. We all know that if Cassary had managed to woo the Lady Eagle to his side, my power base would have been much diminished."

#AND YOU HAVE SO LITTLE FAITH IN YOUR RAPTORS?#

"Oh? She was weakening Sosai X-sama. That's why I tried all possible ways to keep them apart." Katse huffed, "I even picked up a thought from my little Condor. She actually thought that he was worthy of returning her sister's affections. She cared for him Sosai. He was definitely a palpable danger."

#HIS REPLACEMENT WAS USELESS TO US.#

Katse swung at the glowing figure in rage, "So it *was* you. *You* sanctioned their raid to free the bastard and assassinate the real Count?"

#HAVING THE REAL COUNT IN POWER, AS A PUPPET UNDER YOUR CONTROL, CREATED A USELESS APPENDAGE. THAT IS WHY WE RESTORED THE BASTARD SON, AND MADE HIM THINK HE WAS BEHOLDEN TO YOU FOR HIS RESCUE. ASSASSINATING THE REAL COUNT CASSARY WHILE HE WAS IN POWER, SHOWED HELM HOW FAR YOUR ARM COULD REACH. COUNT HELM EGOBOSSLER NOW KNOWS THAT RANK IS NO BARRIER TO OUR MIGHT.#

"Yes, I know. With the real Count dead, the royal houses were forced to reinstate Helm to the throne. It resolved the ascendancy to the realm, and ensures I still have a strong commander who I can entrust the armies to. Count Helm now knows better than to attempt a break away from the Empire, he also knows it would be no trouble at all for me to replace him."

The planning was a touch of genius, and as usual, the credit had come to Berg Katse. But it still irked him that he had not thought of it. That it was Raven 1 who conceived the plan first.

#WE RESTORED AN EFFECTIVE COMMANDER, KATSE. NO MORE. ANY AFFECTION OUR EAGLE WOULD HAVE FOR THE BASTARD, SHOULD HAVE DIED THAT DAY WHEN THEY WERE FORCED TO REVEAL THEIR TRUE NATURE.#

Katse folded his arms and chewed on his lip in anger as he recalled that fateful day. For it was also the day he realized how close he had been, to losing her to that unworthy bastard.

"I would have joyfully killed him when he shirked from her." Katse growled under his breath, "She really loved him, I knew it then. The bastard didn't even see the desolation in her eyes. He shattered her heart!"

#AND IT WAS FOR THIS THAT YOU MASTERMINDED THE COUP WHICH RESTORED THE USELESS TRUE COUNT TO POWER? THAT WAS A WASTED EFFORT. FOR HIS BETRAYAL, THE EAGLE WOULD NEVER HAVE TURNED TO HIS CAUSE.#

"How can you be so sure Sosai? Despite his loathing, they still went as far as to defy my purpose, to help the bastard over turn the coup which forced him out of power."

#RAVEN 1 DID WHAT WAS NECESSARY TO FULFILL *MY* PURPOSE, BERG KATSE. THE TRUE COUNT WAS A USELESS FOP.#

#RAVEN 1 IS NOT READY TO FACE THE COUNT, KATSE. YOU FORCE A TRYST TOO SOON.#

"She still has feelings for him Sosai, and its time she gets over it."

#KATSE, YOU DISGUISE YOUR CRUELTY WITH CONCERN.#

"*I* am their all, Sosai! I do not share! Eagle will learn that human men will always reject us because of what we are. I love her, as much as I love her sister. I will not let her go." Katse snarled under his breath, "She will see again that he loathes her and she will learn to forget him. That is my purpose for the tour."

"*I* am their center of existence, that is why you created them, *for* *ME*!"

#DO NOT PUSH THEM UNNECESSARILY.#

"All right, all right!" Katse held his temples, "Sosai, I beg your remission to take immediate leave, you're giving me a headache."

#HEED ME, BERG KATSE.#

"Yes, oh mighty spirit."


	4. V-2

Jo hugged her knees to her as she looked back at the sleeping figure.

#Jo, Ken will be all right. You're not alone in this, and we've been through this before. You and Ken must discover the truth yourself, without anyone else offering you any stories.# The Siamese cat sighed as it started to clean itself, #Sosai X has taken far too many liberties with your memories. I won't do the same.#

#Despite the pain it causes when we finally remember the truth?# Jo asked sullenly.

The cat stopped its ablutions for a moment to eye the dark-haired youth. #Even if I had told him up front. I could not have made his pain more bearable, Jo.#

Jo looked away from the little cat. Her mind wondered back to that last mission. During Katse's mad V-2 scheme with the Van Allen belt. Probably the most inopportune moment for Ken to confront his past.

#Jo, tell me what happened yesterday.# Charles looked up at her, #Neither of you have said so much as a word to me about the details of that mission.#

#You know the result.#

#But not how it was reached. Share it with me.#

#All right.# Jo sighed as she touched the cat on the head, and created a mental theater for them to review her memories.

> Ken had been furious with Katse's lack of foresight in not building the antidote rocket before hand. Ken knew, of course, that we could not disagree with the Avatar in public. But I know my brother, he was more angry with himself for not checking out this fact, than he was with Katse.
> 
> After all, he was the one who arranged for the building of the remote launch controls, which allowed the Avatar to launch the rocket, even after the Kagaku Ninjatai had seized control of the platform.

#This of course made Katse was frightened by Ken's independence in creating the remote console without consulting him.#

#Katse's a control freak, and he knows it.# Jo agreed, #But he cannot deny that Ken is a much better field commander. I hate it when I get caught between them. I always believed that our Avatar should leave the field to us, while he concentrates on his dreams and visions of the future. Ken has no interest or ambitions in ruling the world, but Katse will never believe that.#

#Enough with the commentary child, let's continue.# Charles interrupted him.

> We had already delivered the ultimatum to the United Nations and the Alliance of Nations, and were now guarding the antidote rocket. It was finally completed, but we would need to send someone up in the rocket. We didn't have enough time to build the automatic guidance systems. Katse made Ken choose the sacrificial pilot.
> 
> Predictably, the Kagaku Ninjatai considered stealing the rocket. In retrospect, we should have let them take it. We would not have grieved, if their leader Falcon Sam had taken it up.
> 
> But Katse wanted to milk the moment for all it was worth. He wanted the world to sweat. I was probably the only witness to the vehement debates between Ken and Katse on the impact of allowing a member of the ISO to launch the rocket, or assigning the task to one of our own.

#You actually tried to argue with him?# Charles asked her shocked, #Jo, any kind of defiance makes Katse paranoid about his station!#

#We know, but you'd have to be there to understand. The whole mission was mismanaged from the start. Ken was getting very frustrated in his cleanup efforts. He - he didn't care anymore.#

> Katse ended the debate by emerging from our chambers and declaring to our forces that it had to be a Gallactor's duty. He gave Ken no choice but to obey the Avatar's commands. Fortunately, our own Public Relations people had prepared for both eventualities, or we would have been caught flat footed.
> 
> Our Blackbirds, were ready for the Kagaku Ninjatai when they arrived. It was rather laughable that they would try to infiltrate *our* Blackbirds to get to the rocket. Every member of our squad is familiar with their teammates, we spotted the impostors almost immediately.
> 
> But the battle was only a smoke screen for the Red Impulse squad. Red Impulse was approaching from another quadrant. Ken figured it out, he was suspicious of the Red Impulse Captain's conspicuous absence.
> 
> Per our usual practice, Ken informed me of his leave taking. I was protecting the old pilot then and couldn't leave to follow him, though a part of my mind stayed with him. I would know if he was in any danger.
> 
> Red Impulse was a man of many secrets. With my ability, I could have extract those ISO secrets, as easily as a dentist extracts teeth. We also have had ample opportunity to kill the Red Impulse Captain before, but Ken always stayed my hand
> 
> I was once close enough a few time to have read his mind without him being the wiser. Ken would have had all the answers he wanted, but he wouldn't let me. He wanted to hear Red Impulse's words with his own ears. I can only protect my brother when he lets me. That was one occasion when I wish he had let me help.

#Save your self recriminations Jo. You couldn't have changed his mind.# Charles told him, #Let me watch the scene play out, Jo. I'll draw my own conclusions.#

Jo fell silent as they settled back to watched the images perform.

> Red Impulse looked back regretfully at the bodies of the green guards.
> 
> "Well then, this is it." He sighed, " Katherine, I wish ... I wish we had not parted as we did."
> 
> The ISO agent began the climb up the ramp to enter the rocket, when a black combat disk sank into the wall of the ship beside his hand. Red Impulse swung around fast, his gun filled his fist at the end of his turn.
> 
> "Oh please," a familiar voice said sardonically as the gun was ripped out of the ISO agent's hand by an unseen force. "If I meant to kill you, your blood would have already been spilt."
> 
> Raven 1 crumpled the laser gun in midair and allowed it to fall at his feet.

#I wish Ken wouldn't use his powers so casually to make a point. We know how bloody dangerous it is to his physical system. Not that the ISO agents would ever guess.#

#Quiet little one, let it play out.#

> "Raven 1?"
> 
> Even when diluted through a mental project, the fear in Red Impulse's voice was still evident. To the ISO, Katse was a psychotic figure head while Raven 1 was the power behind the throne. And for all intents and purposes it was true. Raven 1's reputation and leadership ability was legendary, as was his professionalism. And it was to this that Red Impulse decided to appeal to.
> 
> "You are not insane, Raven 1. The rocket must be launched. You know that."
> 
> "Of course. And you've volunteered yourself. How self sacrificing."
> 
> "Damn it Raven 1. Stop your games, If this rocket isn't launched within the hour, it'll be too late for all of us."
> 
> Red Impulse turned his back to Raven 1 and continued his ascent.
> 
> "Is it always so easy to run away, father?"
> 
> Red Impulse rocked back on his heels at these words. "What did you call me?"
> 
> "Is this your response to all complexity and difficulty in your life, *father*?" Raven 1 reached for his helmet and pulled it off. "This bravery of fools?"
> 
> "No, this is impossible."
> 
> Kentaro turned to face the white-haired youth, with the piercing blue eyes.
> 
> Kentaro had the opportunity to see the Gallactor siblings before, in both their male and female forms, but this time he really looked.
> 
> "Ken?" Kentaro croaked in horror, he reached up to push up his visor so that he could see clearer, "No, you're lying! Ken is dead. My son is dead! Gallactor executed him in retaliation of my spy activities."
> 
> "A false history, change of hair color, name, and location. Do you think that death would be so difficult to fake?" Raven 1 asked in an even voice.

#Katse calls Ken his Ice Queen because of his pale complexion, white hair and his mostly stone faced demeanor. But I know that is false. Ken has emotions and feelings deeper and stronger than anyone would think possible of him. I know this meeting was killing him. I could feel his bitterness and wretchedness threatening to overwhelm him.# 


	5. A Father's Flight

> Raven 1 and Red Impulse faced each other across a gulf of more than years.
> 
> "You know I speak the truth, father. I am your son. The one you left behind to be raised by Gallactor. In my memory, I had brown hair once. I remembered my name, and in it's connection I remembered you. Why did you abandon me?"
> 
> "Ken, oh my lord, Ken?" tears were streaming down Kentaro's face. Now that he really looked, the recognition could not have been unmistakable. Yet he made no attempt to approach this stranger who was his son.
> 
> "Has your devotion to the cause, always been stronger than any other feeling, father?" Raven 1's face was dry. "Is the price of family worth it?"
> 
> "You know me for what I am now, father." Raven 1's features changed ever so subtly, his voice also shaped to his new physical form, "The son you lost, now also able to be the daughter you never had. How does it feel to have left your son in the hands of the alien to be shaped into something else?"
> 
> "Stop it! Stop it!" Kentaro held his hands over his ears, and shook his head in confusion. When he looked up again, Raven 1 was once more male.
> 
> "How could you have lived?"
> 
> "Does it matter? I remember you turn your back away and run, when our neighbor took me from our home. Was it so easy to forget me?"
> 
> "No, no I searched for you. I contacted Giuseppe again, I was suppose to bring you and his family out!"
> 
> "I saw you pull his wife away as the devil star shot him. Just before she shot me."
> 
> "I though you had died. I thought - I - Katarina - when she saw her son die. We tried to track down the devil star who did this. We tried ... "
> 
> "Katarina's contacts couldn't find us?"

#Hold the thought, Jo. You found out your mother was still lived and you didn't tell me?# Charles growled at her.

#We didn't mean to. It - it's just that - it never came up - I mean - That search is for another day, Charles. I rejoiced, I - I didn't even - I never thought I'd find out she might still be alive. When we have the time later on, we will look for my mother. But, this was Ken's confrontation.#

> "Ken ... Do you ... hate me?"
> 
> "No. No, I don't hate you." Raven 1 told him, "I cannot profess to love you either, father. But I do not hate you. I - I just need to understand. I need to understand the man who I've admired from afar for so long ... I need to know why, father? Why you abandoned me? Why you gave up on me so easily?"
> 
> "I never - I never wanted to." Kentaro started to walk down the ramp, as Raven 1 began to walk towards him. "I never forgot you. You have to believe me. When I - when I first thought you were dead, I refused to believe it. I tried to find out more. Then I - I tried to forget. I - I remarried - "
> 
> "Katherine, our files know of this estranged wife." Raven 1 now stood within arms' reach to Kentaro, "Because of me?"
> 
> "No - I - it isn't like that." Kentaro was lying, in his mind he remembered Katherine's heated word with him.
>
>> "I can't compete against the ghost of your son, or your cause Kentaro! My first husband died because of your damned cause, as did my first born, and my adopted son. You've already destroyed the life of our eldest, I will not let you destroy another!"

#I was hearing his thoughts as if they were being projected to me. Other children? Ken could have step-siblings who are alive? How do I reveal this to him?#

#Never, Jo. Not now in any case.#

> They faced each other in silence for a moment, until a rumble deep in the earth reminded them of the impending danger they had gathered to hold off.
> 
> "Will - will you embrace your father?"
> 
> "Will you trust me?" Raven 1 asked sardonically.
> 
> Kentaro was taken aback for a moment. #This was Raven 1, Berg Katse's most trusted and feared field commander! But this is also my son. My lost son?#
> 
> "Raven 1 ..."
> 
> "I give you my word than, if that's what it takes. You will not die by my hand, or by my command this day."
> 
> They now stood within arm's reach of each other.

#He actually placed himself in such danger?# Charles asked, #Without even drawing a reciprocal oath from Red Impulse?#

#I was almost screaming at him. Ken was placing himself at his mercy. Kentaro could have kill him and he would not lift a finger to stop him. Ken did not even take the precaution of securing his blades against capture.# Jo nodded, #I couldn't even leave my position. I had to guard old Dirk and bring him to the launch bays when the time came. If he died, it wouldn't have matter if my brother lived or died, because we'd all be doomed.#

#I could hear the thoughts running through Kentaro's mind, Charles. It was a tempting opportunity for him. To kill the Gallactor Empire's most feared commander.#

> #Raven 1 ... Katse's field commander. Without him the Empire will be crippled. He is Gallactor ... he is my son ... #
> 
> "Raven 1."
> 
> Kentaro's hands reached across to draw Raven 1's ebony dagger from it's scabbard. The blue-eyed youth did not flinch, neither did his eyes waver or show any indication that he was aware of Kentaro's action.
> 
> {He will not stop me. I could plunge his own weapon into his heart. Gallactor would be lost without their commander. Their moral batter, to know that their greatest warrior was killed with his own weapon. I - I-}

#I couldn't follow his thought's at that point. Kentaro's mind was in chaos. But there was a strange calm in my brother's thoughts.#

#What was going through your brother's mind, Jo?# Charles looked at him sharply, #Why didn't he even make a move to defend himself?#

#I don't know, Charles. I only know that at that moment, Ken was willing to accept his own murder. He wouldn't listen to me.#

> Red Impulse dropped the dagger. But both hands reached up now to encircle Raven 1's neck. It rested there for only a moment before the hands started to touch his face and hair.
> 
> "Raven 1 ... I wish - I wish-"

#I was screaming at Ken then. At any moment, I expected the thick hand's to snap his neck. We've studied Red Impulse's case files too many times. Nothing we had read indicated the man had much compassion. He was ruthless in the field. He above all wanted to see the Gallactor Empire destroyed. It must have been too tempting a decision for the ISO spy now.# Jo bit his lower lip as he remembered the tension of the moment, #But Ken didn't listen to me.#

> "Raven 1 - Ken."
> 
> Kentaro embraced his son fiercely.

#When Red Impulse embraced him I knew his danger was over.# Joji breathed as the tension eased out of him. #I was so afraid.#

#But it presented us a whole new problem, didn't it?# Charles sighed.

#It would have ... if I had not failed in my part.#

> "Ken - I'm sorry. I - I have to leave." Kentaro whispered into Ken's ear, though he did not let go.
> 
> "You don't have to" Ken laughed softly, "We've already designated another for this. He comes."
> 
> "What?" Kentaro leaned back to look his son in the eye.
> 
> "An old pilot, dying of cancer. You should have sat back and called our bluff." Ken smiled, "You may not trust Katse or Sosai X, but we are not insane."
> 
> The scene switched to be with Raven 2. Raven 2 was preparing to help the old man towards the launch bay.

#I should have paid more attention to my surroundings instead of peeking into my brother's encounter. Worse, I should have paid attention to the battle between the Kagaku Ninjatai and our blackbirds. I did not realize that our blackbirds had been defeated. Before I could recognize the danger, Falcon Sam's boomerang came inside my guard and sliced open Dirk's throat.#

> "Good disguise but, disguises can't save your leader." Falcon Sam caught the boomerang as it returned to him.

#I thought I was looking at a monumental idiot. The Kagaku Ninjatai thought that I was protecting Berg Katse in disguise. They as good as signed the earth's death warrant, when they killed the man Ken had designated to save all our lives.#

> "You fool, that man was to pilot the rocket!" I shouted at them. "Raven 1 should have cut you deeper!"

#I should have closed my mind to my sibling, but it was too late. Ken picked up on the death immediately. I knew then that he would try plan B, and that would have been a death sentence for him even if he accomplished it.# Jo confessed to Charles, #I needn't have worried, Kentaro took the matter out of his hands.#

> The scene switched again to show Kentaro noticing Ken's momentary distraction.
> 
> "Dirk? No, the pilot -"
> 
> Kentaro's fist was inside his guard before Ken could react. Kentaro hit his son in the solar plexus, not hard enough to injure him, but enough to take his breath away and render him helpless for that moment.
> 
> "If that pilot's dead, then there's only one thing left to do. I love you, my son. But I cannot let you take this responsibility from me." Kentaro hugged him fiercely for a moment before lowering him gently to the ground.
> 
> "Ken, be well. Perhaps this is for the best." Kentaro kissed him on the forehead and left him.
> 
> "No - wait." Ken croaked, as he tried to regain his voice. "Father!"
> 
> Kentaro turned to look at Ken as he tried to struggle to his feet. Red Impulse pulled his visor down again and saluted to him as the hatch to the rocket closed.
> 
> "Father - wait!" Ken pushed himself to his feet and started to run after the rocket as it started to draw out of the docking bay. He stumbled often. "Father!"
> 
> Ken fell to his knees at the edge of the docking bay when he ran out of road. "I can't, I shouldn't though I can. " he whispered to himself, "I'll doom us all."

#Hold that image, Jo. What were the details of plan B?#

#Ken was to have manned the rocket until it reached the upper atmosphere, then use his telekinesis to guide the unmanned rocket through it's course while he returned to earth under his TK shielding.#

#He could have died!#

#He probably knew that,# Jo agreed, #But was it easier for him to see his father commit suicide. He could have stopped that launch, you know. I was prepared to block my brother's powers, but he knew better than to try. Now that Kentaro chose his actions, we had to let him go ahead with it. I knew I would have to block my brother's powers, if he even thought of attempting to stop the launch with his powers, but he never tried.#

#Now, you'd wonder if Kentaro was just looking for an easy way out. As Katse's Ravens and field leaders of the Gallactor Empire, you wouldn't have change sides.# Charles pointed out, #Kentaro Washio spent his entire life opposing the Gallactor Empire, he would never have defected. How would father and son have continued this war?#

#That situation is moot now isn't it, we'll never know.#

> {Ken, I remember when you were younger, when you used to run after my car as I pulled out of the driveway and down the band.} Kentaro thought as he brought the rocket up.

#I let Ken hear these thoughts. This was important to him.#

> {You were so young then and you'd fall again and again, but you'd always got back on your feet and run after me. Ken.}
> 
> The rocket continued on it's path to destiny.
> 
> "KEN!"
> 
> "FATHER!"

#And the rocket exploded restoring the magnetic fields of the Van Allen Belt.# Charles commented.

> "Red Impulse has done it!" Falcon Sam cried in delight, "Raven 1 must have failed to stop him!"
> 
> "You are fools! All of you!" Raven 2 threw a flare grenade in front of them and left them to recover their vision as he ran for the launch bay.
> 
> The rising sun started to light the horizon as Raven 2 picked up his brother's helmet before approaching him softly. The silence of the launch bay was broken only by the ragged breathing of Raven 1. He wasn't crying though, his cheeks were quite dry.
> 
> "Brother?"
> 
> "I have shed enough tears for my father. I will shed no more."
> 
> Raven 1 reached up to touch tears, Kentaro had left on his forehead. He gave no more though to them as he flicked them away from him, before taking his helmet from Raven 2 to pull it on.
> 
> By the time the Kagaku Ninjatai arrived, Raven 1 was on his feet and the dark warlord of the Empire faced them.
> 
> "Leave Kagaku Ninjatai, there is nothing left to fight for in the place." Raven 1's voice carried with it the iciness of the Antarctic.
> 
> "You should have called our bluff, Kagaku Ninjatai. The Gallactor Empire shares this planet. We would hardly want to destroy our own home." Raven 1 continued, "You killed our designated pilot, and instead your precious Red Impulse Captain, Kentaro Washio, took the rocket up. Your Red Impulse Squadron is finished."
> 
> "Leave now, or I may not let you depart."

#Ken was never cruel. But at this moment, I could sense that he was on the brink of madness.# Jo confessed, #It was fortunate that the Kagaku Ninjatai rightly chose to leave.#

#We've seen that flash of insanity in Katse before,# Charles reminded him, #When he could appear like a raving lunatic. Katse was never more dangerous than when driven to the brink.#

#At least Ken did talk to us about it for a moment.# Charles sighed as they exited Jo's mental theater, #It would be too easy to cross that line again if he's pushed over the threshold. Katse crossed it once.#


	6. Disquietude

Katse was in a foul mood when he got back to his room.

"Aw damn it. Too close to dawn." he cursed, "By the time I get out of this ensemble, I'll have to climb back in again. Now where are my pills?!"

He started to rummage into the drawers for his prescription. He shook out five blue pills and threw it into his mouth, as he reached for the decanter with his other hand and poured himself a glass of port.

> "You shouldn't mix medicine with alcohol Katse-sama" Lady Condor's voice filled his mind as he brought the glass to his lips.

{Oh screw you.} Katse toasted the mental image in his mind before tipping half the contents of the glass down his throat.

Katse threw the rest of the port into the fire along with the glass. His hand reached for the crystal decanter as he slumped into the chair beside the bed. He stared at his reflection in the dressing table mirror as the medicine took effect and throbbing pain started to ease.

"Needless cruel am I? What next? I'm being paranoid? I am the supreme leader of the Gallactor empire!" Katse waved his fist at his reflection, "I am the Avatar of the living spirit and scion of God! What could I possibly fear!"

Katse drank directly from the decanter. He looked at his reflection again and spotted the picture which sat by the mirror. A picture of him standing behind his raptors. A much happier time before he began the war.

{'Discontent' ... why can't they be happy with the way things are now? When have the siblings ever faced hardship? They never had to live on the streets. Gallactor raised them on the sacred grounds.}

Katse got off the chair to walk over to the dressing table.

{They are never alone. Why in my earliest memory, they have always shared a mind link with a range of 1 kilometer. My guess is, only death will remove the link.}

He picked up the picture smoothed his hand over the images.

{I'm lashing out again. Is it loneliness that I feel. Will I always resent their closeness? That I am always going to be an outsider, no matter how much they try to alleviate my loneliness?}

Katse turned the picture down on the table as he stared at his own reflection.

{Why do I continue to hold them at arms length then? Because I fear them?} Katse hugged himself, {Because they have started to think for themselves?}

Katse groaned as he reached for his temples and started to kneed his head at the pressure points. He hated the after effects from his meetings with Sosai X.

{Jealousy? Why do the sibling find it so easy to communicate telepathically? Sosai always gives me a headache.}

> 'How can you compare our communication, with your communication with our God.' Katse recalled his white-maned youth's sardonic words
> 
> 'Eagle?' he had raised his voice in shock at these words.
> 
> 'We are not children anymore Katse-sama. We may have been indoctrinated into the Empire but neither of us believe Sosai X to be a God.'
> 
> 'Eagle! Mind your words! The walls have ears.'
> 
> 'Or be declared heretics. What race on earth can profess to speak so closely with the God which gave us life? And that is how we maintain our power. If Sosai X wants to spare you a headache, He could learn to speak a little softer to His Avatar.'
> 
> 'He practically shouts at you, Katse-sama.' Jo agreed, 'Telepathy should not be so heavy handed.'

Katse had to grin at the memory of this insubordination. But the smiled faded quickly, lately their insubordination had cropped up more frequently then he cared to count. The most recent occasion being Raven 1's debate with him on the merits of letting the ISO send the sacrifice instead of using one of their own man for the V-2 debacle.

"That was certainly a disaster of a mission." Katse told his reflection, "It's to our credit that we have such a good public relations engine to turn this into a victory."

Katse frowned for a moment as his thoughts came back to his charges. Lately he had noticed that they stopped pestering him about their past.

Previously, they had so many questions about the past. Questions which Katse didn't have answers to since he only took custody of the siblings much later. And their previous caretakers only told them as much as he knew himself.

Katse's thoughts drifted back to a memory of their previous guardian, a Dr. Rafael. Sosai X considered that scientist a dangerous man, though it was he who gave the siblings their cybernetics. He was also the man who shaped the youths into what they were now and trained them in the mastery of their formidable mental powers.

Katse turned to walk into the next room where his computer console stood. Using his security pass codes, he accessed and pulled up the file on the training of his Ravens.

"How much do they remember of this life?" He asked himself, as the file came on the screen, "I never told them of this file before. I pulled it on my hard disk before Sosai purged the network. Why did he think it so important to keep it a secret?"

> _Recorder: Dr. Rafael, current guardian of Project Omega-x3g Gemini-construct_
> 
> _The powers of the children have finally manifested. We had begun to think that our efforts to artificially induce their mental ability had failed. In the course of the next several months, we should learn if our theory in maintaining the sanity of the subjects is successful._
> 
> _To reiterate, providing artificial mental powers to previous subjects have lead to a total mental breakdown of the said subject, and required the termination of each project._
> 
> _Project Omega-x3g Gemini-construct, required the creation of a mental construction between the two subjects. The merger of the psyche of the subjects will strengthen the minds of the said subjects. Said subjects ... the children ..._
> 
> _Oh hell, look these are kids. To whom ever, continues reading this tirade I cannot continue to treat them with scientific detachment._
> 
> _When Sosai X first gave them to me their minds were totally fragmented. They were little more than android killing machines with imbalance psyches and definitely little ability to fit into any society._
> 
> _Sosai created a pair of killers which he could drop into any city and count on them to slaughter the population. No one would be able to defend themselves from these little horrors. With faces of angles and hardened bodies, the little savages would be unstoppable._
> 
> _But that wasn't Sosai's purpose. He wanted a pair of leaders. Commanders who could inspire the Empire to conqueror the world. He wanted a replacement for that fused twin child he lost fifteen years ago. He's failed far too many times in trying to recreate that child again. This was his latest attempt._
> 
> _The Alien must be getting desperate. From even cursory examination, I could tell the kids weren't even related. Fortunately for them he didn't try to fuse their physical structures. He would have killed them if he tried, they are genetically too disparate to fuse._
> 
> _They must have tried to run away before. I can see no other reason for Sosai to have them tattooed with such a large pattern on their backs. The pale child had a tattoo of an Eagle with white orchids, while his darker sibling has a condor and blue roses._
> 
> _Ha, I referred to them as male at first, but I should have known better. Sosai has changed them enough to improve on his fused twin model. The children are shape shifters, able to change their sex to his wishes. I would guess that later in life, Sosai would allow them to take control of this change._
> 
> _Without knowing their past, I'd put them at age 8. If these kids were ever to have a life again or even perform as Sosai X expects them to, I had to rebuild their mind from ground up. But alone they had no chance, as individuals, their mind wouldn't have the strength. Not at this age in any case._
> 
> _Unlike the fused twins, the single psyches are not strong enough to withstand the abuse Sosai X wrought when he changed them physically. If I'm to stabilize them, I have to bind their psyches together. They have to almost inhabit each other's mind._
> 
> _The difference was almost instantly apparent. When they woke up after the operation, it wasn't an android staring back at me again. It was like picking up two confused kids._
> 
> _I managed to talk Sosai into leaving them to me to raise. They've already come to accept me as a guardian, though I can tell they regard me more as a caring uncle than a parent. They know that they're orphans._
> 
> _By binding their psyches I've managed to save their minds, but I see one dangerous drawback; For their own safety, they must be kept in close proximity, if not together. Psyche breakdown may be imminent if the siblings are separated for too long. I would postulate that if one should die, the other will follow in sympathetic death._
> 
> _Their physical and scholarly training has proceeded uneventfully, though I would note that they are brighter than any child of a similar age. The siblings are truly gifted, but I could not expect less of Sosai X._
> 
> _I would at this point take note of a behavioral pattern I have observed. Eagle refuses to use firearms. The little hellion also refuses to have her white tresses cut._
> 
> _Condor is more carefree than her sister. But I've observed that she refuses to be left alone. If Eagle is being tutored elsewhere, I have to have a guard near Condor or he'd become uncontrollable. We've had little cause to test this, but I believe it to be a fear of loneliness. I would also put Eagle's refusal to use firearms as a phobia against them._
> 
> _These phobias were probably brought about by some trauma in their past, but I believe that they should handle this themselves at a later age._
> 
> _I continue to marvel at how casually the children accepted their mercurial physical nature. Then again, I was not around when they first realized that they could adopt either male or female form. I would be greatly surprised if the revelation did not cause them to go mad that first time._
> 
> _Then again with all that religious rubbish the priests were feeding them about hermaphrodites being the chosen ones of gods and other nonsense, I was probably lucky they still turned out to be well balanced kids instead of religious fanatics. Until Katse turned up, they had believed that they were the only beings on earth able to shape change._
> 
> _In any case, after the pair had stayed in my care for about two years, their psychic powers finally began to manifest._
> 
> _It happened on the day I was on hand to watch little Eagle with her fencing instructor. At that time I was becoming increasingly worried over how our instructors were to keep up with her. It was as if these instructors were becoming novices before her._
> 
> _The 'master' was falling back against her attack until she suddenly stopped. I was on my feet at that point because they were using un-tipped blades. I thought that he was going to run her through._
> 
> _At the instance when the instructor suddenly realized that she wasn't paying attention, it was already too late to pull his lunge. I should have known better, she side stepped the blade, though it did come close enough to draw blood._
> 
> _She dropped her fencing iron and didn't even pay anymore attention to us as she ran towards the river. I of course ran after her with the guards._
> 
> _We heard the howling of some animal before Condor's voice reached us. It was then that I realized Condor's telepathic powers must have materialized. Logical that Eagle would be the first to hear her because of their link. Something must have happened and she was calling her sister._
> 
> _Condor was in the middle of the river hanging onto a branch with one hand, she was holding a wolf pup in her other arm._
> 
> _I yelled at the guards to get some rope, but I knew it would be too late. Condor was tiring. She couldn't hold on much longer. The pup was heavy and she wouldn't let go. If she lost her hold on the branch, they'd be swept over the rapids._
> 
> _Then it happened, Condor and the pup were suddenly in the air above the waters. It was Eagle, she didn't want to lose her sister. But she was confused, her telekinetic power was manifesting and she didn't understand what it was._
> 
> _I knelt beside her and took her hand, and quietly I told her to pull her sister and the wolf pup across the waters towards us, and lowered them in front of me. She calmed down and followed my instruction though it was with some hesitation._
> 
> _Condor was safe, and with the exuberance of children they soon forgot the matter when their attention was taken by the wolf pup. For a moment, I did wonder if I had made a wrong decision in letting them keep the wolf pup. But in my heart, I knew it would do them good it giving them some semblance of normality in their life._
> 
> _With the manifestation of their powers though, Sosai appeared and he wanted to take them away from me, but I stood up to him and he finally agreed to leave them with me a while longer. I didn't know then that, the children had been watching when Sosai X visited me._
> 
> _As soon as Sosai left, the kids confronted me. They must have been surprised to find me so please over their rebellion. But that, more than any other action, told me that their psyches were truly on the path of recovery. So I told them as much as it was safe for them to know about Sosai X, and I made a promise to them that I would let them stay with me for as long as I could._
> 
> _I dare not tell them more, and later I had to make sure Condor couldn't steal the information from my mind. Their mind has been fragmented before, and Sosai is too casual with his rewriting of their memories. If I reveal too much it may destroy their minds. Better that they recall their past without the intervention of others._
> 
> _Sosai has let me keep them for the moment. By my judgment, it is time I bring them to meet other children. A sterile up bringing is hardly a way to raise children. They are eventually to be trained to become leaders, so I must at least give them a childhood to help them grow._
> 
> _We begin tomorrow. I've already called on the courtesy of the Countess Egobossler for a short stay. I understand she has a son only slightly older than my charges. I might as well introduce them to their peers to prepare them to time when they have to meet as equals._
> 
> _Dr. Rafael_

Katse stopped reading and tapped his finger on the table for a moment.

{You tried your best Rafael. But they remember nothing of their time with you. At least Condor still has the wolf he rescued, and the cat you gave Eagle.} Katse sighed, {They used to ask me about their past, so why do I continue to hold this piece of information from them.}

He stared at words on the computer's screen.

> _[Their mind has been fragmented before, and Sosai is too casual with his rewriting of their memories. If I reveal too much it may destroy their minds. Better that they recall their past without the intervention of others.]_

{I am afraid.} 


	7. Ravens

Jo put the cat off his lap and got up to moved across the room. She sat on the window sill, and interlaced the fingers of her right hand with the grill as she stared out into the night.

"Don't worry too much about the morning, Jo. There is nothing else we can do about it." The Siamese cat walked over to the wolf and climbed on it's back. The black wolf looked up at it for a moment before setting it's head down to sleep again.

Jo looked at the immaculate grounds, patrolled twenty-four hours by the green guards. Her mind drifted again in thought.

{Why do I feel that the Gallactor empire is crumbling around us?} she sighed.

{Why? We are Gallactor's most loyal commanders.} Jo's left hand started to unbutton her night shirt, {The elite of the Avatar's warriors and chief adversary to the International Science Organization's Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman.}

{The Kagaku Ninjatai,} a smile broke her lips as she imagine seeing the bird winged ninjas of the ISO outside, swiftly and silently taking out the green guards. {Ha, I would have loved to see the expression on Nambu's face, when Berg Katse revealed his own elite squad, not too long after their appearance. The ISO thought that we were mere copies of their precious commando unit.}

Images of Gallactor's own dark winged squad descended among the Kagaku Ninjatai.

{Not so, we had been prepared long before we even heard of the Kagaku Ninjatai, the Avatar only needed to come up with a name.} Jo pulled her arms out of the sleeves and dropped the night shirt on the floor, {It is true that the Blackbirds are not in the same league with the Kagaku Ninjatai.}

Two black winged knights appeared, one with an ebony sword, the other cradling a gun. {But the ISO ninjas are no match for my sibling and I.}

The images faded as Jo turned to look at her bare arms. For a moment, her right hand traced the tattoo of a rose vine down her left arm. A tattoo which culminated in a blue rose on her left hand. The rose gave off a slight pulse of light.

{We were groomed to be second best to no one.} Jo got off the window sill and walked to the mirror to look at her stately reflection. She turned slightly to look at the tattoo which covered her back. A full back tattoo of a condor perched on a rose vine.

"Preening again sister?"

Jo yelped as she swung around to face her brother.

"I didn't know you were awake? You startled me."

"Shouldn't have. Bad habit of yours, Jo. It's too early to get up yet. Why don't you get some sleep." The white maned youth turned over and soon fell back asleep again.

Jo shook her head, {Ken, you tire far too easily now.} Jo turned back to face her reflection, but her eyes wasn't on her own image. A phantom seemed to appear at her shoulder, a phantom who wore white military garb. The rose on her left hand glowed again as her features changed.

Joji sighed as he reached into the wardrobe to pull out a blue military uniform, the mate of the image he saw in the reflection.

As he buttoned his shirt, the phantom reappeared beside his reflection in the mirror. He cut a fine figure in his formal attire. But this image was fleeting as it quickly changed to appear as two black garbed winged figures, with helmeted visors that concealed all of their features.

{The Ravens. My brother, Raven 1, the blades master, telekinetic, and undisputed field commander of the Gallactor forces. While I, Raven 2, am the firearms maestro, telepath and second field commander.}

{Our titles were unimaginative names in itself, but they sufficed to tell us apart. No need for colors or special designs to announce to all which sibling we were. No, it was far better to keep them guessing as to which Raven they faced, and which skill set they had to defend against. At cursory glance, we could only be identified by the arms we carried. It would take intense scrutiny, to see the differences in our armor reinforcements.}

Joji sighed as he turned away from the mirror and bent to lace his boots, {Is Sosai X really so paranoid. Why have we so many abilities? More security to the Avatar's house? Why is it so important that we can assume either form of man or woman? And why is it so important that Sosai hide our past from us? It's a pity my telepathic powers cannot help us fathom the truth behind our past.} Joji sighed.

{Sosai X may have given me this power, but it was with Kate's support that I learnt control.} Joji looked into the cupboard again and drew out a blue halter neck dress. {I might have gone insane with the noise which surrounded me, if not for my sibling. She held my sanity together with her voice. Her clear voice would cut through the confusion and reach me to calm me and shut out the rest of the world.} He held it in front of him as he looked in the mirror.

Joji looked at the pale sleeping figure again. He slid the dress back into the wardrobe and turned to gaze at the sleeping figure.

{With the power of his mind, my sibling could move mountains if he so wished. The Avatar has had to be thankful for the existence of his shields, which he can erect with the speed of thought. Sosai X gave him that power and trained him well in it's use. But this all came with a price. The feed back of the psychic energies conflicted with our cybernetics.}

{Unrestrained, Ken's powers would have been limitless. Sosai X made an irreversible mistake, now the use of his powers is slowly killing him.}

{We never asked for any of these powers. We still have no idea when any of it was done to us. At least Sosai X did not go as far as to totally reconstruct our bodies with internal weaponry. That would have been unbearable.}

"Joji?"

"Ehh!" The blue figure jumped as his brother's voice cut into his thoughts.

"You can't sleep?" Ken pushed himself up and pushed the blankets off.

"I'll be okay. You should sleep."

"Don't coddle me, Aniki. I've had enough rest. Its a couple of hours before dawn. I might as well get dressed."

"Err - All right."

Ken rose from the bed and looked into the wardrobe, Joji watched silently as his brother pulled out the white military dress suit.

{When did I started following him? Though I am older by nearly a year, it seemed a natural course for me to follow my sibling. He gave me the deference of the older sibling yet, we were never in contention over who was the true commander of the field.}

As Ken dropped his night shirt, he revealed the majestic eagle in flight which graced his pale skin. The orchid it carried in it's claws had tendrils which snaked down his right arm.

{A rose for me, an orchid for my brother.}

"What are you worrying about now?"

"What makes you think, I'm worried?"

"Silly question, our minds are so completely merged that keeping secrets from each other is quite pointless, remember?"

"Then why don't you tell me what I'm thinking?" Joji almost bit his tongue, that came out more bitter than he intended.

"Though I'm not the mind reader, Joji ..." Ken strode closer and touched his brother's face, gently turning it to face him. "I know you're worried about many things. You're still troubled by the loss of our past. You're wondering how I'm pulling through over my father's death. You're wondering how we're going to find your mother. You're worried about our meeting tomorrow. You're afraid for me. Afraid of what I'll go through when I meet my former lover again."

"Most of all," Ken poked him in the chest, "You're scared I'll just keel over and die on you."

"Ow - Hey ..."

"Oh ye of little faith." Ken tapped his brother on the nose, "I won't Joji. I don't want to die. You think I have a death wish? Excuse me?"

"Well - No, but-"

"Right, No 'buts' you can't get rid of me that easily brother. You'll see me for a long time to come."

"What about my sister?" Joji asked him as he caught his right hand and turned it so that they could both see the white orchid on the back of his hand. "When will I see her again?"

"Kate, is a creature of vanity." Ken drew his hand out of his grip, "She won't appear again until her hair is anything less than perfect."

"Ken, you can't keep denying half your life." Joji told him as he helped him into the shirt, "It is growing back."

"All her life Kate and I only had control over one property. When I got sick we almost lost it all."

Joji stroked his thin white hair comfortingly, "The volume is returning vain creature. It'll be the same as - "

"No, it won't. Not for a few more years in any case." Ken reached up to comb his white locks. "Remember how Lady Eagle would tease with it?"

"Cruel creature that Kate was, with thorns and blades woven in her braids." Joji rolled her eyes, "Using it like a whip, daring anyone to catch it and slicing their hands to ribbons when they did?"

"It'll take forever to grow it that long again." Joji took the comb from his hands and continued combing it for him, "Katse-sama gave you the chain whip."

"It's not the same."

"So we're going to break tradition and appear at the bastard's castle as men instead of the ladies?"

"You tell me." Ken smiled as he finished buttoning his shirt, "You're already dressed."

Joji stopped combing for a moment, and rapped his white maned brother on the head with the comb.

"You have a hack of a way of occupying my mind, brother."

"Ow- You've grown moody in your old age, Aniki."

"Don't push it Kenny boy, you're only a few months younger."

"So we think." Ken laughed gently as he bent to lace his boots, "What else were you thinking of?"

"Nothing ... everything ..." Joji sat at the window sill, "I'm just wool gathering."

Ken walked up behind him placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You're not the only one I wager."

"Why? Why now?"

"We've endured a crisis. The Van Allen Belt debacle was a major gambit for us. Now that it's failed, Katse has to come up with something new."

"Oh? And the rest of his schemes are what? Trivial?"

"In comparison, yes. Nothing we've gone through has been as earth shattering."

"Are we happy, my brother?"

"What is happiness?"

Joji glanced back to look at Ken's haunted eyes. Without another word, they turned away from the window and walked towards the balcony.

Outside, they stood side by side to watch for the approaching dawn. The morning choral was beginning as the birds gave thanks to the new day.

Ken reached out his right hand to grip Joji's left, both thinking the same thoughts.

#Would we have been happy, if our memories had not resurfaced?#

Couldn't they be content with their station. They were second only to the Avatar himself, the supreme being Berg Katse. His trusted sub-commanders. As the Ravens they wielded a power unrivaled in the Gallactor Empire, a power feared and respected in the empire.

The brothers were in positions none other could challenge, except the Avatar himself. And they shared his love. By all rights and privileges, physical and spiritual they were the leaders of the Gallactor Empire.

#Would we have been contented if we had not remembered our real names?#

#No.#

They had many names in their life, but never really remembered their original names until a few months back. That was when Ken realized that he was related to the Red Impulse captain. They did not even tell Katse of their real names, Ken Washio and Joji Asakura. Nor did they reveal to him that they had decided to use the names Kate and Jo as women.

It was their private names for each other, their reminder that they had a life without defining it by the Gallactor Empire. For reasons they didn't understand, Sosai X did not want them to remember their past. They did not want Sosai X to find out that they were remembering.

The first rays of the sun shone above the horizon to touch their faces.

"Come brother," Ken turned away from the sun, "We must make preparations for tomorrow's journey."

End


End file.
